nipper:

(plural: ‘nippers‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)

‘to nip’ = to squeeze, pinch or press hard from two sides using one’s two fingers, teeth or any device, such as pilers or pincers

two cute little nippers

a person (or thing) that nips;

(in British usage) a small child,

a nipper (L) nipping/biting the other one

e.g.

My nephew is such a nipper that everybody likes him. (in the sense of cute)

Primary school staff often has difficulty handling ‘nippers’ in their charge, those young children who bite others for fun or out of anger, and experts say that not all but most children pass this stage and care should be taken to see that they don’t nip other children too hard or too often! (in the sense of who nips/bites other children)

Nippers working at plant nurseries must know how to nip/prune certain flowering plants, such as roses, to make them grow bushier and bear more flowers.

For a news article that shows us how we come across this word referring to a small adorable baby, please click here, for an article that shows us how this word is used for a programme for children, please click here and for a news article in which we see ‘nippers’ being used for lion cubs which bit their mother quite often, please click here.

(a pair of nippers)

Note 1: ‘Nipper’ is more commonly used for a tool or instrument that is used for nipping things, such as a pair of scissors or pliers, and also used to refer to the large pincer-like claw of a lobster, crab, etc., and, in Australia, to a kind of small prawn used as a bait to catch fish. For an article about a thread nipper (a tool), please click here.
Note 2: ‘Nipper’, always with a capital ‘N’, is often found in the names of people, e.g. Jacob Nipper, Marcell Nipper, Catherine Nipper, etc. For an article that explains the origin of this word as a surname/family name/last name, please click here.